Edge finishing leather articles



May 14, 19409 H OMS 2,200,384

\ EDGE FINISHING LEATHER ARTICLES Filed Nov. 12, 1938 Patented May 14,1940 UNITED STATES EDGE FINISHING LEATHER ARTICLES Hiotte A. Davis,Lynchburg, Va., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Boroughof Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application November12, 1938, Serial No. 240,062

4 Claims.

This invention relates to edge finishing of sheet leather articles andis illustrated herein by way of example but not of limitation asembodied in a shoe upper- Where the upper of the shoe is linednodifiiculty arises in effecting a suitable edgefinish inasmuch as themargin of the leather may be folded and the raw edge concealed by thebacking or lining. However, the edge finishing of unlined shoe upperspresents certain diinculties which it isthe principal object of thisinvention to overcome. More particularly, it is an object of theinvention to provide in an unlined shoe or other unbacked article ofsheet leather a smooth and neatly finished edge comparable to the edgefinish obtained in shoes having lined uppers. An additional object ofthe invention as applied to shoe uppers is to provide in an unlinedupper, a margin along the top of the quarter which may be used, withoutmarring the upper, to tack the upper to the last so that when the upperis tensioned prior to lasting there will be no tendency for the edges ofthe upper to pullaway from the last, thereby causing a distorted shoe.

A further object is to provide a simple and practical method whereby theforegoing objects are attained.

Briefly, the invention comprises a shoe or other article of sheetleather having its edge formed in two integral parts defined by a splitextending inwardly of the edge along the margin, the edge of the outeror grain surfaced portion being folded, the two parts being fastenedtogether with some permanent securing means such as cement or stitching,and the margin of the inner or flesh portion being trimmed along a linesubstantially flush with the fold of the outer portion. It may be founddesirable for the article to have the edges of one or both of the splitportions skived or reduced in thickness to provide a finished edgesubstantially equal in thickness to the main body of the leather sheet.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a shoe embodying the invention, aportion being broken away to disclose the construction of the edge ofthe upper in cross section;

Fig. 2 is a cross section on a larger scale of the edge of the upperafter the splitting operation;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the edge after cementing and foldingthe outer or grain side;

Fig. 4 is another cross sectional view illustrating the edge afterstitching and trimming; and

Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 4 showing a modification in which themargins of the respectivesplit portions are skived.

As illustrated, an upper U is split along its top margin inwardly of theedge to define two por- ,1

and secured there by a bandof adhesive such,

as rubber cement 28. The inner or 'fiesh side portion 24 and the foldedouter-side portion 22 are bound together by cement 28 or by stitching39, or partly by the cement28 and partly by the stitching 39, whichextends through the flesh side split 25, the inwardly folded margin 26of the grain split portion and the main body 22 of the grain splitportion.

To produce the invention, applicant has devised a simple and inexpensivemethod the several steps A of which are illustrated in Figs. 2 to 5. Asshown in Fig. 2, the top. margin of an upper U isfirst split inwardlyfrom the-raw. edge along a plane approximately parallel to the surfaceof the leather and, the split, opened, thus forming two portions orflaps, the one 22 having for its outer surface the finished or grainside of the leather and the other 24 having the flesh side for its outersurface. This split may, of course, be made at any point in thethickness of the leather. An adhesive-28, preferably rubber cement, isthen applied to the inner surface of the flaps 22 and 24. The grain flap22 is then folded inwardly upon itself and the infolded margin 26secured in position by the adhesive 28. Preferably, the split dividingthe flaps has been located as close to the grain surface as ispracticable since the thinner the grain portion can be made the lessadditional thickness there will be in the edge of the finished article.i

After folding, the split between the two portions is closed by bringingthem together, in which position they are adhesively held by the cement28. The two portions may then be permanently fastened together by thestitches 30 (Fig. 4) and the projecting margin 32 of the flesh portion24 trimmed along a line substantially flush with the fold in the outerportion. Obviously the trimming operation may be done before or duringstitching, or if the margin 32 of the flesh portion cement alone. Insuch case the-finished surface of the inturned margin 26 would usuallybe roughened to permit the cement to penetrate the leather and make afirm bond. Furthermore, in making articles other than shoes, or inshoemaking where the margin 32 of the flesh split 24 is not to be usedfor tacking the upper to the last, it may be found desirable to trim offthe surplus margin 32 of the flesh portion 24 prior to cementing, sincethe inner surface of that part of the flesh side which is not trimmedaway will preferably be cemented throughout its entire width, and bythus trimming, any danger of smearing the folded edge of the grain sidewith cement when the two portions are brought together is eliminated.

It may be found desirable after the splitting operation, and beforecementing and folding, to skive or otherwise reduce in thickness themargin of one or both portions of the leather at 23 and 25, as shown inFig. 5. This would preferably be done on the inner surface of the flaps22 and 24. By adding this step the edge may be finished withsubstantially no increase in thickness over the main body of the leathersheet after completion of the operation.

. It will be evident to anyone skilled in the art that the order ofperformance of the operations may be varied considerably withoutdeparting from the scope and fundamental spirit of the invention.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the edges of an unlined shoeupper or other unbacked sheet leather article may be given a neat,attractive appearance and the finished product will have an edgeresembling that of an article having a lining or backing. If desired,the flesh side of the leather may be treated by roughing or otherwise tosimulate suede or other suitable lining material as shown at 34, in Fig.1.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An article of sheet leather comprising two integral marginal portionsdefined by a split extending inwardly from the edge, the grain portionbeing folded inwardly upon and against itself, and the flesh portionbeing trimmed along a line substantially flush with the outer surface ofthe fold in the grain portion, thereby to simulate a lining, and meanspermanently securing the folded grain portion to the inner side of saidflesh portion.

2. An article of sheet leather comprising two integral marginal portionsdefined by a split substantially parallel to the surface of the leather,at least one of said portions being reduced in thickness, the grainportion being folded inwardly upon and against itself and the fleshportion being trimmed along a line substantially flush'with the outersurface of the fold in the grain portion, thereby to simulate a lining,and means permanently securing the edge of the folded grain portion tothe split surface of said flesh portion.

3. That improvement in methods of finishing the top edges of unlinedleather shoe uppers which comprises splitting the top edge of theleather inwardly of said edge, folding the margin of the outer splitportion inwardly upon and against itself, thereby leaving the innersplit portion projecting for tacking to a last, securing the foldedouter split portion to the inner portion, and thereafter trimming theinner portion substantially flush with the outer surface of the fold ofthe outer portion.

4. That improvement in methods of finishing the top edges of unlinedleather shoe uppers which comprises splitting the margin of the leatheralong a plane approximately parallel to the surface of the leather,reducing the marginal thickness of at least one of the split portions,folding the margin of the grain split portion in- .wardly upon itselfthereby leaving the flesh split portion projecting for tacking to alast, permanently securing two split portions together, and subsequentlytrimming the flesh portion substantially flush with the outer surface ofthe fold in the grain portion.

HIO'I'I'E A. DAVIS.

